CID raids on software piracy in the private sector

The Criminal Investigations Division carried out another corporate end user raid this week when it nabbed a company using pirated software. The company was suspected to be infringing the intellectual property rights of the Business Software Alliance (BSA) -- Adobe, Autodesk and Microsoft by using pirated and unlicensed software in the course of running its business.

BSA said in a press release that the raid that took place simultaneously in Ratmalana and Horana on March 30/31 involved the seizure and examination of over 70 computers installed with an estimate of over 120 copies of pirated software valued at an Rs 10 million. Final results will be known upon further investigations, BSA said.

The law governing intellectual property rights under the Intellectual Property Rights Act No 36 of 2003 is very comprehensive and states that computer programmes are protected works and are original intellectual creations. Any person guilty of an offence shall on conviction be liable to a fine not exceeding Rs 500,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or both the fine and imprisonment.
“We have conducted another enforcement action against a business suspected of using pirated and unlicensed software.

The use of pirated software is a clear violation of the country’s copyright laws, and we are determined to remind businesses of the severity of the violation through enforcement. Business users of software should not take the Police’s enforcement actions lightly as we will not let-up in our efforts to eradicate software piracy and upholding the intellectual property rights of copyright owners,” said CID director Wijaya Amarasinghe.

Senior Director – Anti Piracy of the Business Software Alliance (BSA), Tarun Sawney said, “The software industry in Sri Lanka, which includes local software developers, distributors, resellers and value-add partners, need to be protected against such criminal acts which cost millions in losses to the industry. If the industry is denied legitimate revenues, it will stunt the growth of this sector and legitimate taxes due to the Government.”